Lung cancer has a high mortality rate worldwide. Non.SMC condensin I complex subunit H (NCA PH) has been identified to be one of the regulatory subunits of the condensin I complex, which is essential for the correct packaging and segregation of chromosomes in eukaryotes. NCAPH is abnormally overexpressed in various types of cancer. A pro.survival member of the Bcl.2 family, myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (Mcl.1) is also frequently overexpressed in multiple cancers and is associated with poorer clinical outcomes for patients. The association of NCAPH and Mcl.1 proteins with the clinical and pathological features of non.small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains to be elucidated. In the current study, the positive percentage of NCA PH in the non.cancerous lung tissues was revealed to be higher compared with that in NSCLC . However, the positive percentage of Mcl.1 in the non.cancerous lung tissues was lower compared with NSCLC . In addition, NCA PH high.expression patients had a higher overall survival rate compared with patients exhibiting low expression, whereas the Mcl.1 high.expression group had a lower survival rate. Pairwise association in 260 cases of NSCLC revealed that overexpression of the NCAPH protein was negatively associated with Mcl.1 expression and vice versa. The results of multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis also indicated that NCA PH and Mcl.1 demonstrated potential as distinct prognostic factors that may be used in NSCLC. The expression of NCAPH and Mcl.1 may be associated with, and act as distinct molecular marks for the prediction of a poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC . © 2020 Spandidos Publications. All rights reserved.